how long does it take you to set up your kit for a gig?

just wondering how long do you guys take to set up your set?

2-3 minutes, tops.

45 minutes to an hour

im used to setting up drum sets, because i played drumset for marching band and they only gave us 3 minutes to set up the whole pit and i had to set up the drums

If I have to I can probably do the whole thing in 12 minutes, but I usually just start setting up my stands while the prior band is playing and then we just toss everything on stage and I adjust while the geetars get their {censored} ready. So that's over about the course of an hour or so.

Lol, really? What have you got, one cymbal and stand?

About 2 mins - My uniformed high-heeled busty big-boobed short-skirted team of girlfriends does it for me for free on every gig.

But sometimes, while I set up the drums and they are doing more special things for me I do it in about 10-12 mins.

Curb to set up, about 15-20 minutes. If my bandmates are helpful and do most of the hauling I can cut that down to about 10-15 minutes.

That's fast for a set up like yours. Do you use cases? I had a friend that I helped out a few times, he had a rack and the whole shabang...seemed to take us both 15-20 minutes.

Usually takes me about 15 minutes if I hustle. My cases are a bit of a pain, I spend more time messin around with those than anything.

Must have been tough during parades.......

10 minutes for the drums, electronics and lighting (I got stuck in charge of our strobes since the controller is in the rack with my monitoring system) but I preset-up everything so that it's a matter of bringing the components on and setting them in place. The electronics take more of that time than the drums, since I have to set up the backing tracks, sub-mixer and monitoring system, then test everything and do a mini-soundcheck to make sure that the keyboards (patched into the submix) and backing tracks are running right, and that the click track isn't inadvertantly going over the FOH mains.

We played with one band and the drummer had his whole rack setup, minus the cymbals, and they just slid it in and out of their trailer. He had mics mounted to the rack too so it was an real fast setup.

Usually my biggest waste of time is people trying to "help" and they start handing me {censored} before I have a place to put it. I need to do things in order people!

I use soft cases and don't have too much trouble with them. I mean, if I can't figure out how to use a zipper, I got bigger problems than how fast I can set up my kit.

This is very true!! I also like when there's about 7 people, who aren't even in the band, just standing around on stage when you're trying to move your stuff on or off and have no idea that they're in the {censored}ing way. ++

I've realized that the worst time for anyone to talk to me is right after I get off stage as I just want to get my gear packed up and loaded in the car before relaxing.

After I got all my stands set to the levels I want them at (including floor tom legs), I marked the lengths with tape so I know what level each stand needs to be. Plus, since I used duct tape, the tape acts as a stop which helps save a bit more time too.

Yah, I put markings on my stands initially, but then I washed them off because I discovered I liked my nipple measurement procedure better. Just as accurate and way more kinky!

15-20 minutes is pretty comfortable pace-wise, even with my kit. I do break down the rack, but the rack only takes a couple of minutes to put together. I keep the long pipes in a golf bag travel cover, and the rest fits into my hardware case.

Before the rack, it took about 10 minutes more because everything had to be 'tweaked' once I was done. Now literally EVERYTHING has memory locks on it, and every piece is labeled.

Here's how I do it:

DONE!

After I'm set up, I'll usually try to jam my drum bags into my kick drum bag and clean up my mess of empty cases.

AS for the time estimate, all I know is that I also generally have to wire up and fire up the PA and get it working. The rest of the guys will usually get the components in the right places (mains, board, rack, etc...) but I usually have to run the cables and get it working. I can usually have my drums set up and be soundchecking the mics in under an hour. The PA definitely takes longer than the drums. If I have a "helper" to help with the kit, I can usually be barking orders at them to make things go faster...the "helper" can get the drums out of the cases and haul the empty cases out of the way, which can speed things up.

I used to use my nipple for the height of my crash, and my belly button as the height check for my ride.

I tied marking the height of my toms with another dangling biological unit, but one time we played at a club full of hot chicks, and I ended up hitting nothing but the front rims of my drums all night.

So who marks their drum rug with setup directions? I had a Masking Tape Party a while ago, but now that my set had changed a bit, I need to redo a few things. Makes setup a lot more easy-going when I have help. The 2 roadies just look at the stands and then look at the marked tape points.

My setup usually takes 10-15 minutes tops. Which also includes hauling it into the places. Sometimes I have help from my drum roadie and sometimes I do not so it varies.

Not only do we have almost the same setup, we also have the same problems!!!

4 peice kit, hats, ride and 2 crashes. I just have them set up in a way that only requires 2 stands aside from the hats and snare. I keep my stands mostly un-broken down, so all I have to do is kick out the legs, toss on the toms and cymbals, and I'm good to go. I routinely finsh setting up before my guitarists.

Oh about 30 minutes or soooooo depending on the stage

I play a basic four piece, with two crashes, high-hats, and a ride.

Generally, I get everything out of the cases, stick my cymbals on the stands, and set up the snare as soon as I walk in the door, then stash it in the appropriate location. It then takes me about 5 minutes to get set up on stage, so I routinely get done before the guitarists.

If I have to go in "cold" (everything in cases), I figure I'll need about 15 minutes to set up properly and stash all the cases, hardware, etc.

45-60 mins probably.

But I got a 10 piece kit. The actual drums and cymbals takes maybe 30 mins to set up.. the rest is mounting and running the wires for the 4 electronic drum pads I mount around my kit and connecting my Roland TD1 brain to the sequencer and sampler and then making sure all the MIDI stuff is working and ready to rock

My band usually only does the 4 set 9:30pm-2:00am type gigs so its worth the time it takes for me to set up to be able to cover the range of the 50+ songs we will be playing that night

Oh I forgot to add that my band always helps me by handing me the parts I need as I go and puts my empty cases and bags away for me while I am setting up because my drum set is so huge I always set up first to determine where the other guys stuff can go.

I dont think I have ever set up the kit entierly by myself....unpacking drums from cases, putting cases away, opening up stands, getting cymbals out of the cymbal bags, mounting cymbals, is always a "Team" effort getting my drums set up.

My band is just really cool that way.